Lend or trade your stuff with your social friends

Have a look around you. I bet you have a ton of stuff that works perfectly well and yet you don't use very much - if at all. Most households are the same. We've all got useful stuff that is just taking up space in our homes. Your nextdoor neighbor or the family down the road probably have the same situation. The fact is, when we need something like a circular saw or a bicycle or a microwave, we just go out and buy a new one rather than asking if our neighbors have one that we can buy or borrow. It might be good for business but it's not particularly fiscally responsible nor is it good for our planet. Jipio is a new buy, sell and lend application for Android and iOS that provides a platform for social transactions. You can post your own items or check to see what your social friends have that you need. Then you can negotiate to either purchase or borrow an item rather than splashing out on a brand new one. Many of us have lots of things stashed away that we don’t need but they are a bit too valuable to us to simply throw out. We could sell them, of course, but some of us feel a little strange about selling stuff online - especially to total strangers on Craigslist or Ebay. So, to make it easier, the Jipio developers have created a new social network that becomes a marketplace for friendly transactions and enables friends to trade or borrow stuff from each other - simply and easily. This smartphone app makes it easy to snap, tag and add items that you are prepared to part with but, in contrast with many other online marketplaces, Jipio doesn't force the user into making just one kind of transaction. There's no limit to what you can offer - as long as it’s legal! People in Jipio have shared everything from cars and houses as well as more esoteric things like your skills or your time. You might want to hold on to the item for later use and be happier to lend it rather than going the whole hog and 'out-and-out' selling it. In which case, you can easily set up a 'lend' status for that particular item and see if any of your Jipio friends might want to borrow it. There are quite a few of these online micro-marketplaces turning up all over the place these days. Many take advantage of Facebook's vast audience and turn into what is virtually an Ebay for the social community. You can log into Jipio through your Facebook account if you wish or sign in independently and it's easy to post photos of the stuff that you are willing to trade or lend and add a few details about them. Jipio says that it's turning everyday transactions into meaningful encounters and that is a good way to look at it. You can not only clear out some of your useful but unwanted things while you make some friends along the way. Jipio is also, of course, a great way to recycle items and to reduce the waste we have in our society. Jipio's mission statement states that it's aim is to reduce waste by helping people get access to the things they need in a way that is more affordable, less wasteful and more social. That sounds like a win/win situation all round. Let's hope Jipio takes off in a big way.